This website uses features which update page content based on user actions. If you are using assistive technology to view web content, please ensure your settings allow for the page content to update after initial load (this is sometimes called "forms mode").
Additionally, if you are using assistive technology and would like to be notified of items via alert boxes, please follow this link to enable alert boxes for your profile.

This website uses features which update page content based on user actions. If you are using assistive technology to view web content, please ensure your settings allow for the page content to update after initial load (this is sometimes called "forms mode").
Alert box notification is currently enabled, please follow this link to disable alert boxes for your profile.

Frequently Asked Questions Retirement

Pre-Retirement

We only withhold Federal income tax. You may find that the Federal income taxes
withheld from your first interim payment will be higher than the Federal tax
withholdings from your subsequent interim payments and regular annuity. We will
make any necessary tax withholding adjustment when we finish processing your
application. Your health and life insurance coverage will continue while you
are receiving interim pay. We will begin withholding health and life insurance
premiums retroactive to the commencing date of your annuity, when we finish
processing your application.

You should review your Official Personnel Folder (OPF) to make sure that there is verification of all of your military and civilian service. If any of the records are missing, your employer should help you document the service and obtain any missing records.

If you have civilian service for which you must pay retirement contributions or repay a refund of contributions, your employer should tell you about what impact payment or non-payment has on your eligibility and the amount of your retirement benefit.

If you owe a payment to receive credit for military service you performed after 1956, you must make that payment before you retire. If you are receiving military retired pay, you should discuss whether or not you must waive the retired pay with the personnel officer at your agency.

Your personnel officer can also tell you about receiving credit in your annuity computation for various types of service and about the payments described above, as well as help you with service documentation.

To understand the concept of Phased Retirement, consider two half-time employees who fill one full-time job. Employee one retires while employee two continues working. Employee one receives an annuity based on half-time employment, and employee two continues to work half-time for half-pay. Eventually, employee two retires, and receives an annuity based upon half-time service, including credit for the time worked after employee one retired. Now assume that employee one and employee two are the same person. That is in essence how Phased Retirement operates.

While there are additional computational details, these are the basics. At entry into Phased Retirement, the employee’s annuity will be completed as if fully retired and then divided by two. That annuity would be paid while the individual worked a half time schedule receiving half pay.

When the Phased Retiree fully retires, there will be a computation of the annuity that would be payable if the employee had been employed full time and then divided by two prior to adjustment for survivor benefits. That amount would then be added to the original Phased Retirement Annuity, and that combined amount would then provide the basis for survivor annuity adjustment and benefits.

The individual’s income during partial and full retirement appropriately reflects the individual’s situation. During the partial retirement period, the income will be between full retirement and full employment, and the Phased Retiree would be increasing their lifetime retirement income. At the time of full retirement, the individual would be appropriately compensated for the value of both full-time and part-time service, with an annuity greater than if they had fully retired at the time of transition to Phased Retirement, but less than if the individual had continued employment on a full-time basis during the period of Phased Retirement.

The benefit is not reduced if it begins after your 60th birthday and you
have at least 20 years of service or you reach the Minimum Retirement Age and
have 30 years of service. Delay of the benefit can be used to avoid all or part
of the reduction for retirement before age 62 that would otherwise have been
applied.

Your life insurance enrollment will stop until the annuity begins. Once the
annuity begins, the life insurance coverage you had when you stopped working
will resume if you are eligible.

Your health benefits can be temporarily continued under the Temporary Continuation of Coverage for
18 months. You must pay the full cost of coverage, including both the employee
and government shares, plus a two percent administrative charge. Your employer
will collect the premiums and maintain this coverage.

When your payments begin, if you are otherwise eligible to continue coverage, you can again enroll in the Federal
Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program and we will pay the government share of
the premiums.

If you do not file an application before your death, the rights of your
surviving family members would be protected because you would be considered a
retiree.

Prepare and obtain your signature on the "Certified Summary of Federal
Service," Standard Form 2801-1 (CSRS) or 3701-1 (FERS);

Verify any service not fully documented in your OPF; [Note:If documentation
is missing, verification may be obtained by contacting federal record centers.
If the personnel office is unable to obtain verification, we will complete
verification upon receipt of your retirement application and records. This
process will cause a delay in processing of your claim.]

Certify and transfer your coverage under the Federal Employees' Group Life
Insurance (FEGLI) program to OPM;

Transfer your enrollment under the Federal Employees' Health Benefits (FEHB)
program to OPM;

Prepare Standard Form (SF) 50, "Notification of Personnel Action."; and

You should contact the Social Security
Administration at least three months before your 65th birthday to apply for
benefits. The Social Security Administration will have records pertaining to
your eligibility for Medicare coverage. If they do not, and you or your
employer need to get a statement of your earnings for this purpose, you can
write to:

We have the authority to waive the five-year participation requirement when it
is against equity and good conscience not to allow an individual to participate
in the health insurance program as a retiree. However, the law says that a
person’s failure to meet the five-year requirement must be due to exceptional
circumstances. When someone is retiring voluntarily, a waiver may not be
appropriate because he or she can continue working until the requirement is met.
When circumstances under these conditions otherwise warrant a waiver, we will
notify the individual's employer.

If your employer sends us your retirement records electronically, via the
Data Exchange Gateway (DEG), your account information for direct deposit will be
sent to us automatically. No further action from you is required. Otherwise,
include your request to receive your payments by direct deposit with your
retirement package. You can do this by submitting a letter or a Standard Form
(SF) 1199A with your application. You must get the SF 1199A, Direct Deposit
Sign-Up Form, from your financial institution.

Direct deposit is available to retirees residing in Canada but, generally, it
is not available to those whose permanent address for receiving payments is
outside the United States. However, retirees living outside the U.S. can arrange
to have their payments electronically deposited in a U.S. bank.

Unexpected Error

There was an unexpected error when performing your action.

Your error has been logged and the appropriate people notified. You may close this message and try your command again, perhaps after refreshing the page. If you continue to experience issues, please notify the site administrator.